Air heating furnace



T. C. GLEASON ET AL.

May 12, 1953 AIR HEATING FURNACE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 50, 1950 v00 .10. \EN @QII. J 0G m mama idler? H ,Hmm

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AIR HEATING FURNACE Filed June 30, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 7/ I I,lllllllll 7 J2EE) IIILIII INVENTORG. flam'ds Cf'ieesarr.

irraamw'xst Patented May 12, 1953 AIR HEATING FURNACE Thomas C. Gleasonand Robert H. Smith, Detroit, and Maynard J. Isley, Berkley, Mich.,assignors to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporationof Delaware Application June 30, 1950, Serial No. 171,452

This invention relates to an air heating furnace structure.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a furnacestructure that is compact and elongated so that it is adapted forinstallation inpositions which consume a minimum of usable living spacein a dwelling.

The furnace is adapted to be installed between joists of a buildingstructure by the removal of a portion of no more than one joist and itssmall height assures that it will not hang down below the conventionalcirculating ducts. The furnace may also be installed in certainbuildings inthe floor or maybe installed so that it stands vertically ina closet.

The compact nature of the furnace which provides a high output capacityfrom a furnace of small volume is permitted by the novelcompartmentation'and arrangement of furnace compo nents. j In thedrawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of the section; I

Fig. 2 is an end View of the furnace takenfrom the'right end of Fig. 1and showing the furnace installed between building joists;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a plan view, partly in section, of a portion of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a .view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modified 'fQrm of thefurnace installed in a vertical position; and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 1-'l of Fig. 6. I

Referring to Fig. 1 it is seen that the furnace includes an elongatedcasing it having a rectanfurnace partly in 'gular cross section which isprovided with an inlet opening l2 in one endthereof and an outletopening l4 in the opposite end thereof. "A pair of filters l6 which areof the conventional flat type are arranged in the casing adjacent theinlet opening [2 in intersecting planes with the apex adjacent the inletand paralleling the bottom of thehousing I0. Immediately downstream ofthe filters an area of the housing is devoted to providing a duct IB forair to be heated and a compartment 20 for apparatus intended to delivera supply of a heated medium. A blower 22 which i-s preferably an axialflow type fan is arranged within the duct 18 to induce a flow of airthrough the filters l6 and the duct la. The duct 18 and compartment 20are generally 10- 3 Claims. (01. 12c-11o) 2 i cated on opposite sides ofthe longitudinal centerline of the housing I0 and located in theIongitudinally intermediate portion of the housing Ill. The inletopening l2 and outlet opening-l4 may be connected to conventionalducting which has not been illustrated. A compartment 24 which may bereferred to as a heat exchange compartment is located downstream of theduct l8 and compartment20. The duct l8 and the outlet l4 connect withthecompartment 24 at substantially diagonallyopposite portions thereof. Afinned tube 126 is arranged on the other diagonal of the compartmen't 24and is adapted to serve as a combustion chamber. A plurality of finnedtubes 28 of smaller diameter are arranged in parallel relaf tionship tothe tube 26. A manifold 30 provides a fluid flow connection from thetube 26 to the parallel tubes 28 for the return of hot combustion gases.It will thus be seen that a U-shaped passage is provided by theinteriors of the tubes for combustion gases while the finson these tubesfacilitate the transfer of heat to air flowing outside of the tubes fromthe duct l8 to the outlet l4. A plurality of sheet metal panels 32 arearranged to provide a physical separation of the compartment 20 from theduct I8,the filter compartment and the heat exchange compartment 24;

' The compartment 20 houses a burner 34 which may burn any well knownfuel but has been illustrated herein as an oil burner. A fuel pump isillustrated at 36 as driven by a belt 38 and pro vided with a tube 40connected to a source of supply of fuel and a tube 42 which connectsthetube 36 with the burner 34. The belt38 is driven by an electric motor44'. T r

The compartment 20 also houses means for inducing an air flow throughthe tubes '26 and 28. A blower 46 which is illustrated in Fig. 5 iskeyed to a rotatable shaft having a pulley 50 adapted to be driven bythe belt 38. The blower 45 is housed within a scroll 52 with an axialair inlet and a supplemental housing 54 having an adjusting ring 56 bothof which are provided with openings for relative rotation to control theamount of air which may be drawn in by the blower 46. The blower 46which operates in the scroll 52 has a manifold or ducting 58 associatedwith the scroll so that air discharged thereby is discharged into thetube in close proximity to the burner 34. A" conventional spark plug 60connected to a source of electric currentjinot shown) is provided in thetube 26 to control the ignition of the fuel and air mixture. The tubes28 terminate in a manifold 62 which connects with a second blowerdesignated by the numeral 64 which is also carried by shaft 48 andpositioned within scroll 52 but separated from blower 46 by a partition66. The scroll 52 in the region of the blower 64 terminates in exhaustduct 68 which extends through the housing ID for the discharge of hotcombustion gases. The blower 54 serves as a suction blower to facilitatethe passage of the fuel and air mixture through the tubes 26 and 28. .1

The above described arrangement of components is particularly adapted tocrowd a maximum of heat exchange surface intoa, minimum of space. Thecompact nature of the furnace permits it to be installed in-a buildingat locations which are desirable and offer a minimum major portion ofwhich is disposed on one side of obstruction to normal living in thebuilding. Re

ferring to Fig. 4 it will be noted that a conventional buildingconstruction is illustrated in which parallel horizontal joists T areused to support suoflooring l2 and; finish flooring l4. In .oonyentionalhome construction thes i i ts are usually, spaced; approximately 1,6inches part andrwitnmy novel f rnace construction it has been'foundpossible. to construct a furnace of approximately one hundredthousand t.u. per

hour capacity that is sufficiently narrow that it may be in talledbetween joists as illustrated in Fi witha Portion. only of a joist. lll'removed. The furna e hasv also been found to have a height sumoientlysmall so that i d s n p rud much below a conv ntion l inch joists 0 whemounted as illustrated, Since. this is the normal location ior heating;ducts it; follows, that practioal y no additional pace is; utilized ythe furuses and tha it eeomes portionof the ducting. Brackets llsupportthe .furnace fromioist 18 An. alternative installation of thefurnace. is illustrated in Figs, 6; and; '1 in which the furnace sta.dszvertically in an. unobtrusive location. such as'aoloset. Referringto Fig, :7 a conventional buildingzwalldll,floor s2 andioistsillustrated; Acold air return duct. 8.6 is provided betweenzioistsllt intheusual. manner. The furnace stands vertioallyon; fl or $2. with. theair inlet [2 aligned. Withan opening 38 in floor- 32 so that airtobeheatod may lee-drawn upwardly-through filters Hi from: duct-85. Thecasing I9 is preferably provided. with tin-additional opening. to in .aside walladiacent fi1tersl6 ior the admission of air directly from theroom. to be heated. -'Ih e casing ill. is; preferably provided with twodiametrically opposed: o e ungs.v 9t, an removable, panels 92 wh ch; be.selectively positionedin the openinssall; There, arethus illustrated inFigs. Stand '7 three alternative air inlet openingsand any neormorethereof may be chosen as most suitable for-ran individualinstallation. The outlet M for heated air maybe connected to ducting(not shown) as was previously mentioned with respect to the Fig. 1 formof the-invention.

In Figs, 6 and Z the furnace illustrated has been modifiedgslightly fromthe Figs. 1 through 5 form in, that-the relationship of the largeftube26 to the Small, tubes 28 hasbeen reversed with the air I,

components is not. believed to be necessary; The

thelongitudinal center line of the casing and connected at one endthereof with said inlet, an axial flow type fan located in said passageand operable to draw air from said inlet and impel suchv airlongitudinally through said passage, a

fuel burner and combustion air blowers disposed on the other side ofthelongitudinal center line of the casing, transversely extendingpartition means cooperating witha portion. of said walls to define aheat oXchange.coinpartmcntwithin said casing between said passage andtheend'portion containing said air outlet, said passa e being coninectedwith said compartment substantially div agonaily opposed to. said airoutlet, an elongated heat exchanger mounted in said compartment insubstantial, alignmentwith the other diagonal of said heat. exchangecompartment, said heat exchanger comprising a finned combustion tubehaving one end thereof terminating adiacent said partition. means, aplurality of relatiuely small finned tubes extending in close proximityto and parallel to saidcombustiontube. and terminating adjacent saidpartition means, a manifold. op eratively connecting'the ends ofsaidtubes remote irom'said partition means, said fuel.burnercommunicating with said combustion tube, one. of said combustionair blowers being operatively onnected to said combustion. tubeand, theother of said combustion air blowers being operatively connected tosaidsinall tubes for the withdrawal of the products. of Combustiontherefrom,.said axial flow type fan being operable to impel air iroin,said inlet,v through said passage and heat exchange compartment anddischarge such air from saidoutlet. g

2. A furnace comprising an elongated straight duct-like casing ofsubstantially uniform cross sectional area throughout its length, saidcasing having; a width dimensionin excess of its heighth and. a length.substantially in, excess of its; width and including side, bottom, topand: end Walls do? fining, saidcasing, longitudinally extendingpartition means dividing a portion of said easing into a longitudinallyextending air passage. and

anapparatus Compartment aligned withsaidpas-y sage, transverselyextending. partition means con-i necting each endof saidv longitudinallyextending partition means and one of said side walls to QQQ; operatewith said one side wall and said longi tudinally extending partition to.enclose said apparatus compartment, the transversely extending partitionmeans at one; end or said longitudinally extendingpartition means beingspaced from one of said casing end walls and cooperating there! withand, with the side-, top and bottom walls of said casing todefine a heatexchange c;ompart-- mentin, fluid, flow communication with said air.passage adjacent one corner of said heat ex change compartment, anelongated heat ex-ichanger extending from said last mentionedvtransversely extending partition means tea corher of said heat exchangecompartment aligned with said air passage and extending diagonally ofsaid heat exchange compartment, said heat exchanger comprising a finnedcombustion tube, a plurality of relatively small finned tubes extendingin close proximity to and parallel to said combustion tube and amanifold operatively connecting the ends of said tubes remote from saidpartition means, said casing having an air inlet in one end wall thereofand an air outlet in the other end Wall thereof to furnish a dischargefor heated air from said heat exchange compartmerit, said air outletbeing longitudinally aligned with said apparatus compartment, an axialflow type fan located in said air passage and operable to draw air fromsaid inlet and impel such air longitudinally through said passage andinto said heat exchange compartment in which it travels diagonallythereacross to said outlet, a fuel burner having the major portionthereof located in said apparatus compartment, said fuel burnercommunicating with said combustion tube, and cornbustion air blowerslocated in said apparatus compartment and operable to furnish combustionair to support combustion of fuel in said combustion tube and exhaustthe products of combustion from said relatively small finned tubes and aflue extending from said apparatus c0mpertinent for the discharge of theproducts of combustion.

3. A self contained heater unit including an elongated casing having anair inlet and an air outlet in the respective opposite end portionsthereof, a longitudinally extending housing the major portion of whichis disposed on on side of the longitudinal center line of the casing,said housing connecting at one end thereof with said inlet and having adischarge end within the easing, an axial flow type fan in the housingoperable to draw air therein from said inlet and to impel such air fromsaid housing in a path toward said outlet, a burner and combustion airblower in said casing transversely opposite to said fan housing anddisposed on the other side of the longitudinal center line of thecasing, a heat exchange unit in the casing extending generallydiagonally of the center line of the casing between the discharge end ofsaid housing and the outlet oi said casing and across the path of airimpelled by said fan, said heat exchange device comprising a finnedcombustion tube having one end operatively associated with said burner,a plurality of tubes of relatively small diameter extending in closeproximity to and parallel to said combustion tube and a manifoldop-eratively connecting the ends of said combustion tube with the endsof said smaller tubes remote from said burner, said tubes having outletends thereof adjacent said burner to discharge the products ofcombustion from said heat exchanger.

THOMAS C. GLEASON. ROBERT H. SMITH. MAYNARD J. ISLEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,194,733 Andersen et al. Mar. 26, 1940 2,263,098 Mueller Nov.118, 1941 2,302,859 Hare Nov. 24, 1942 2,308,888 McCollum Jan. 19, 19432,324,010 Myerhoefer et al. July 13, 1943 2,362,271 Heymann Nov. 7, 19%2,388,364 Page et al. Nov. 6, 1945 2,447,373 Smoot Aug. 17, 19482,487,269 Ott Nov. 8, 1949 2,492,654 Richards Dec. 27, 1949 2,581,942Collins et al. Jan. 8, 1952

